October 9, 2017 — IHS Markit’s acquisition of Automotive Mastermind, one of the year’s biggest U.S.-based deals, brought an active third quarter to a close last week. The other big story of the quarter — and perhaps the year — is the nearly $200 million invested in six startups specializing in online automotive transaction solutions.…
September 7, 2017 — Several dealerships owned by the Braman Automotive Group filed three lawsuits this week against Audi and BMW in federal court alleging their business practices drive down dealership profit margins while coercing them to give up control of their businesses. Two of the lawsuits also include Terry Rhodes, Florida’s Executive Director of…
September 5, 2017 — The lawsuits are piling up and more are on the way. Late last month, Superior Integrated Solutions (SIS), owner of Darwin Automotive, became the third dealership vendor to file a lawsuit against Reynolds and Reynolds since February alleging anti-competitive practices. At issue are the policies and practices Reynolds and CDK Global…
August 24, 2017 — (Originally published on LinkedIn) Since July, venture capital firms have invested $159.2 million into the automotive retail industry. And all of the capital is going into five companies whose solutions focus on online transactions. Overall, there have been 20 total deals since January in the industry — eight investments, 10 acquisitions… Continue Reading
August 21, 2017 — The segment is still in its nascent phase but the roll up of marketing attribution firms in the automotive retail space has started. Late last week, Semcasting acquired TransparencyAI, a data analytics firm which has come on strong in the last year helping publishers measure the effectiveness of their digital advertising… Continue Reading
August 17, 2017 — Following a first quarter with only one announced acquisition, the second quarter ended with eight acquisitions, two public offerings and three investments, bringing the mid-year total to 13 deals in the automotive retail vendor space. The rebound puts 2017 on a similar pace with 2016 which saw 31 total deals. Much of…
August 7, 2017 — Less than a year ago, Gary Flom was building an automotive empire consisting of eight dealerships in the heart of New York City with plans to sell more than $600 million worth of vehicles this year. Today, that empire is in tatters, due to a frenetic growth pace railroaded by a bitter… Continue Reading
August 1, 2017 — Good news and bad news today on the antitrust front for CDK Global and Reynolds Reynolds. First, in the lawsuit filed by Authenticom, Judge James Peterson of the Wisconsin district court issued a temporary seven-day stay this afternoon of the preliminary injunction he granted Authenticom on Friday to give the appeals…
July 14, 2017 — BREAKING NEWS — Authenticom today won its request for an emergency preliminary injunction forcing Reynolds and Reynolds and CDK Global to allow it access to their dealer management systems during the course of the antitrust litigation. Authenticom sued Reynolds and CDK in May alleging the two technology firms engaged in antitrust…
June 4, 2017 — CDK Global’s pending acquisition of competitor Auto/Mate is a brilliant deal that should make investors happy. With only 1,300 or so dealerships in play and a price tag that won’t dent the bottom line (although Auto/Mate will get a nice multiple) it isn’t that big of a deal on the surface.…